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Trade Deal, Earnings Outlook & A Strong Buy Semiconductor Stock - Free Lunch

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On today’s episode of Free Lunch here at Zacks, Associate Stock Strategist Ben Rains takes a look at the phase one-day trade deal the U.S. and China signed Wednesday. The episode then dives into an S&P 500 streak, early fourth quarter earnings results, and what to expect from corporate earnings going forward. The episode ends with why Applied Materials (AMAT - Free Report) is a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock right now.

The U.S. and China officially signed the phase-one trade deal Wednesday that helps ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. But President Trump, the U.S., and Wall Street hope the deal marks the start of more comprehensive agreements between the U.S. and China.

The deal, however, was clearly enough for Wall Street at the moment, after all three major U.S. indexes hit record intraday highs Thursday. Furthermore, the S&P 500 is in the midst of a long streak without moving 1%, up or down, in one session over the last 50 years.

So far, fourth quarter earnings season has helped boost investor confidence, for the most part. Banking powers JPMorgan Chase (JPM - Free Report) and Citigroup (C - Free Report) surged earlier in the week. Morgan Stanley (MS - Free Report) stock then soared over 7% Thursday morning.

Looking ahead, total Q4 earnings for the S&P 500 index are expected to be down -3.2%, based on our Zacks data. Netflix (NFLX - Free Report) , United Airlines (UAL - Free Report) , and other big names are set to report their quarterly earnings results next week (also read: Banks Provide Mixed Start to Q4 Earnings Season).

The episode then closes with why Applied Materials, which has outpaced Micron (MU - Free Report) and Nvidia (NVDA - Free Report) over the last year, is a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock right now.

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